Beyond Possible
by CJFANG
Summary: In a remote part in Sinnoh that no one knows about, a girl is striving to become one of the most prestigious individuals ever to walk her village: an Aura Zealot. To become one, she must climb a mountain to ignite a torch to mark her achievement. Small, inspirational one-shot.


She groaned as she hung her head in the middle of her climb. She closed her ruby eyes, let out an exasperated sigh, and leaned back to relax her muscles and bones at a rocky indent. Her dark blue hair was matted down with sweat, her ponytail was covered in dirt and debris, her knuckles were bleach white from the hard gripping of the walls, her arms screamed at her to stop every time she moved, her core felt sharp pains from scraping against the rocks, and her legs were aching from pushing herself up.

I am an Aura Zealot

I am a protector of those subjected to injustice

I am a soldier committed to unity

I am a guardian of those whose auras cry out for help.

She coughed and felt her teeth chatter as she slowly opened her eyes. She looked up and hugged her body against the mountain to measure the remaining distance she had to cover. She growled in frustration as a cloud of mist rolled in to block her vision. Was she a few meters away from her goal? Was she a mile away? Will her body be able to withstand more physical work? Is there any chance of survival if she falls?

None of that mattered. No matter how crazy it seemed to scale a mountain in Sinnoh without anything to stop her fall, she would continue until she reached her goal.

I shall do whatever is necessary to do what is right

I shall train my body, mind, and aura to be sharper than a double edged sword

I shall be a symbol of the fighting aura that exists in all living things

I shall be prepared to do beyond the impossible.

She used her legs to propel her upwards and extended her bare, right arm. She completely ignored the fact that her black tank top was covered in dust. She ignored the ripped portions of her cargo pants and she brushed aside the desire for a clean shower out of her mind. She diverted all of her attention to the task at hand and let out sharp inhales and exhales at every single movement she made.

My discipline will never waver

My determination shall stay rigid like a mountain

My marksmanship shall stay as true as an arrow

My close combat skills will destroy any enemy in front of me; human or pokemon.

The rocks at her fingers sharply dug into her skin, drawing blood and bruising her fingertips. Her breaths were becoming shallower and shallower as she got higher, but she kept going. She could feel the mist moving through her, she could feel the wind harshly attempt to pry her away from the mountain, and she could no longer get a firm grip on the rocks above her. She ground her teeth together other as she found out that she reached her physical limit. She let out a shout of frustration as her body simply refused to move at all. Tears escaped out of the side of her eyes from frustration. She shook her head to fling the tears out of her eyes to get a better picture of what was ahead. She realized that the mist was gone, so she took the chance to look up at her goal. She was so close…

She wanted to give up. Her body simply didn't move. Her eyes wearily closed halfway and she caught her breath. The air was thinner and her lungs were gasping for air; the lactic acid in her muscles burned away at her limbs. Her body was soaked in sweat, and the colder temperature was making it hard to even stay still. She blinked multiple times to get rid of the tears and sweat that were in her eyes. She looked upwards, licking her dry lips at the top. She was so close!

My voice will shout for those who cannot speak

My feet will be firmly planted onto the ground for those who cannot stand

My fists will defend those who cannot defend themselves

My aura will be a flame that ignites the souls within others.

Her mind was dulling from the lack of sleep. She wanted to give up, but she couldn't. She wouldn't. She inhaled deeply, concentrating on the power that was within her chest for a couple of seconds. Soon enough, she felt a familiar warmth envelop her entire body. She felt something ignite deep in her heart, and she felt it.

The Aura.

She glanced at her golden tanned hands and noticed that they were glowing with an azure hue. Her pain grew substantially smaller, and she found out that she could wiggle her fingers again. She moved her fingers, then her hand, then her arm. Soon enough, her whole body was functioning properly once more, fueled by the energy from her soul. She started to laugh in triumph and raised her arm to grab a small ledge that was located atop of her head. Her laughing stopped, however, when that ledge broke off the rocks and fell down to the earth below. Her arm fell with that chunk of rock that broke off, and she slipped only to catch herself once more.

She felt the breath get taken away from her lungs when she glanced down. Her eyes widened at the sight of the village down below. Everything was so small; this kind of view was only shown to her through pictures. The wind blew against her hair, whipping it side to side as she kept on staring down below. That one mistake would've cost her life if it wasn't for her reaction time.

Before she could observe any further, she quickly turned towards the mountain and almost buried her face into the rock. She didn't dare look down, not now. Once again, she found herself paralyzed; not in fatigue, but fear. She felt her heart sink into her stomach and she felt like she wanted to throw up whatever she ate for breakfast. Her breaths grew shorter and shorter and she began to dart her eyes left and right. It was sink or swim, and the only way was up. She gulped and took one giant breath before moving once more.

I will press on no matter how painful the task at hand may be

I will not let fear control me, but I will control fear

I will go through hell to protect those dear to me

I will never leave a brother or sister behind.

Now, the aura was starting to sap away at her body even more than before. If she lost energy fast enough, she would be completely immobilized and possibly fall to her death. She had to move quickly. Her feet found a solid and wide place to stabilize her, and she found her hands go deep into the mountain. The temptation to lean forward onto the grey rock and relax was all too inviting, but she couldn't allow herself to slow down. When she looked up, she found herself grinning in delight; the end was right there!

She extended her arms high above her, but her happy expression turned into one full of disbelief. She couldn't reach it! She refused to panic, and she refused to stop when she could taste the end. She didn't come all this way to quit! She looked down at her feet and at the platform that she was on. It was big and held her weight well. Could she jump…?

Her eyes widened as she heard and saw a crack in the rock that held her feet. She didn't have anything to hold on above her head. It was now or never…

She shouted out in pain as she squatted down. Her legs were dangerously close to cramping up on her, but she quickly built her momentum by swinging her arms back, and then upward. She felt pain shoot through her entire body as she sprung up like a spring, and she felt and heard the small ledge that held her feet crumble. The next second seemed to last an hour as she saw her hands slowly rise to the cliff's edge. She felt her fingernails brush against the rock, then her fingers, then her palm...

I will never disrespect an enemy

I will never let my comrades down

I will never surrender

I will never fail.

Her hands grasped the ledge without any sort of slippage. She yelled out in success and laughed out of hysteria. She did it! Finally, she dragged herself onto the plateau at the top of the mountain and groaned. There was nothing graceful about how she grunted and rolled herself onto her back to look up into the morning sky. As her chest heaved up and down, she couldn't help but grin at her achievement. Every single physical pain that she felt disappeared in that one moment, and she stood up quickly to see familiar faces on top of the mountain as well.

The first faces she saw were her parents. His mom and dad, a human and a Lucario respectively, had smiles that seemed to crack through what seemed to be hours of torturous anxiety. Next to them was his cousin, a Lucario with what seemed to be hair instead of the regular aura receptors. She was grinning ecstatically, sincerely happy to see her cousin alive and well. The girl finally turned to a Xatu, who nodded at her with a sense of respect. She unfurled her wings at what seemed to be a torch, except that this torch was made of some strange material that had runes going along the base.

She didn't need to ask to know how it worked. It was the symbol of her completed task; all she needed to do was to ignite it with aura, and her initiation to become an Aura Zealot would be complete. She blocked out the desire to throw herself at her family and nodded at the Xatu. She let out a deep breath and closed her eyes. She didn't need to open them again, her weak aura vision directed her towards her final task. Without her closed eyes leaving the final target, she turned so that her left shoulder was facing the torch. Everyone was baffled, was she turning away from her goal after coming this far?

However, their doubts were shut away as she slowly and excruciatingly pushed her left arm towards the target. She clenched that hand of the respective arm into a fist and inhaled. The blue hue that surrounded her during her climb transferred into her fist, and soon enough, her entire appendage was burning with a blue flame. A bow made of life energy materialized into her hand, and she gritted her teeth at the effort of reaching towards the bow with her right hand and concentrating her aura onto her fingers. With the movements of a trained archer, she pulled her right arm back. A beam of piercing, blue light followed her right hand until she stopped.

When I get knocked down, I will pick myself up every time

I shall lead by example in all situations through innovation and experience…

She exhaled as her fingers let go of the celestial arrow, and she felt the energy dispel from her body as it shot towards the torch. The runes lit up into a dazzling show of white, and it absorbed the sheer aura. However, the torch couldn't handle all of the aura, and the beam of light kept on going and pierced the clouds behind it, creating a line of aura that cut through the sky.

She opened her eyes and turned towards everyone and fell to one knee. Everyone rushed towards her and congratulated her. She could also hear the roar of her village from all the way up the mountain as she lit the torch with a brilliant, cerulean light that rivaled the intensity of the sun for a quick second. The girl couldn't help but cry out of sheer joy, and she closed her eyes as she felt the arms of her family wrap around her beaten body.

Even if the task is impossible, I shall not quit

For I am an Aura Zealot.

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Wow, this was meant to be a simple writing exercise, but it ended up being a 2k worded short… Ah well, it helped in getting rid of repetitive statements.


End file.
